Audi Recreates Iconic TV Theme Songs for Its Emmys Ads

Editor's Pick

Audi is using its engines to recreate theme songs to iconic series for its new Emmy Awards spots.

The three 30-second commercials, created by Venables Bell & Partners, feature the engine sounds of the Audi R8 V10 plus, TT RS and SQ5 "performing" the theme songs to "Cheers," "Star Trek" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

It's the seventh consecutive year that Audi has sponsored the TV awards show, which has seen audiences ebb over the past few years. The 2016 Emmy Awards on ABC hit an all-time low of 11.3 million viewers, down 5% from the year prior. It generated a 2.8 rating in advertisers' favorite demographic, 18-to-49-year-olds, down 22%.

The ratings decline is reflective of the broader TV landscape, though, perversely making large live events like the Emmys all the more important for marketers that want to reach a lot of people at once. It also makes it more important for big-event advertisers to come up with special creative executions that will get viewers' attention.